“No other group in the world has such a commanding interaction between the grooves of 21st-century dance and the acoustic jazz-piano tradition.”

“There are ordinary jazz piano trios and there is E.S.T, the trio of the decade.” --London Times

Known by the initials of their pianist/leader, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio (E.S.T.) wraps up their American tour this week in Minneapolis (at the Dakota, November 10-11), Ann Arbor (at the Michigan Theater, November 13), and Columbus, OH (Wexner Center, November 14). And while E.S.T is just beginning to find an audience on this side of the Atlantic, their impressionistic creations, combining acoustic and electronic elements, have been garnering acclaim for over a decade in their native Sweden and throughout Europe. E.S.T was awarded "Best International Act” (2003) by the BBC, has won two German Jazz Awards (2002, 2003), a German Jazz Critics Award for “Album of the Year” (2002), the Swedish Export Music Prize (2004), the “Choc L'Annee” (2002) from the French Jazzman magazine, the “Best International Act” (2002) and “Revelation of the Festival” (2003) awards from MIDEM, and numerous Swedish Grammies, including "Jazz Album of the Year” (1996, 1998, 2003). Their latest CD, Seven Days of Falling (215 Music), recently released in the US, has been hailed as “that rare thing, an immediately accessible instrumental jazz album… a delicious banquet of timbres, melodies, harmonies and feels” (John Walters, The Guardian).

Born in Västeras, Sweden, 40-year-old Esjborn Svensson heard his mother play classical piano and listened to his father’s jazz records, but thought the music was “strange and complicated.” Initially drawn to 1950s rock and roll, he entered the local rock music scene as a teenager with his friend Magnus Öström (who also recalls hearing jazz, particularly Glenn Miller, at home). The duo soon evolved as a piano-drum band, with the two young musicians providing some vocals as well. Picking up an interest in jazz listening to Oscar Peterson, Chick Corea, and particularly Keith Jarrett, Svensson notes that he gradually started adding chords to a basic 12-bar blues structure. With the addition of then-rock bassist Dan Berglund, E.S.T. was launched in 1993.

Difficult to classify with influences of classical, pop, and techno as well as rock and jazz, E.S.T. has been described as “the more elegant alternative to the Bad Plus; they share a similar penchant for song-like structure, but with a more delicate approach” (John Kelman, All About Jazz). The trio works as a unit, equally sharing compositional credits; Svensson— with a style recalling early Jarrett but more spacious and restrained, and less ruminative— writes most of the melodies, while Berglund and Öström collaborate with the pianist on arrangements. Notes Svensson, “Individual expression has to be there, but when we solo, we improvise together so it’s more like a conversation between all three of us.”

Five recordings were released in Europe during the 90s, but most American audiences probably had no clue of E.S.T until Columbia issued a compilation of these early recordings as Somewhere Else Before in 2000. A Strange Place for Snow (Columbia) followed in 2002, including influences as diverse as Radiohead and Bartok. Of this recording, Svensson said, “We recorded most of the tracks…first as an acoustic jazz trio, then we revisited many of them to overdub grooves, electronic distortion and layered effects. But we also went into the studio earlier…and just played without any guidelines to see what we could come up with…Overall, the CD is like a long journey, with all the tunes connected."

Similarly, the new recording, Seven Days of Falling, slides along 10 tracks that more resemble a long suite than a series of separate documents. “The grooves of bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström have retained their urgency, while Svensson lays down simultaneous ambient keyboard effects and lyrical piano solos that are firmly rooted in the meditative Nordic sound developed by pianist Bobo Stenson in the 70s” (Improvised Music Co.). The title track sums up the E.S.T approach to compositions, with Berglund’s funky bass line providing a nice bubble over which Svensson introduces a simple, beautiful melody. An arco bass figure follows, with electronic enhancements, leading into a groove of darkly repeating lines with tinkling percussive accents. Similarly, the opening track, “Ballad for the Unborn,” starts with an ethereal ostinato chant of bass and piano, echoed by shimmering cymbals, and develops into a lyrical blues-tinged vamp. With restrained use of electronics, these balladic numbers follow a similar high tech, melodic modernism as the compositions of young Japanese pianist Hiromi. The more up-tempo “Mingle in the Mincing Machine” offers a more American-flavored funk beat, featuring some bouncing basslines from Svensson, evoking some of the more playful work of the Bad Plus. Throughout the disc, the selective use of electronic samples and twanging bass pedal again remind the listener that this is the 21^st century, and rock and hip-hop are just around the corner. “The group has given the sound of the acoustic jazz piano trio quite a different edge - an explosion of new life and a different future - without betraying its roots in melodic subtlety, group empathy and detailed nuance” (John Fordham, The Guardian).

There’s a growing handful of jazz ensembles from diverse and global backgrounds who are selling out venues not necessarily associated with jazz—in stadiums, arenas, concert halls and rock clubs, from Hiromi and Brad Mehldau to Jason Moran’s Bandwagon and the Bad Plus. Combining acoustic instrumentation with varying degrees of computer-generated accompaniment, these musicians are pushing the envelope—and finding considerable success with cross-generational audiences. And, generally, critics have favorably compared E.S.T to the more bombastic Bad Plus. The Bad Plus and EST may be the yin and yang of modern jazz piano trios—Bad Plus hits you between the eyes, while E.S.T hits you between the ears. (Imagine the explosions in Ann Arbor this coming weekend, when both EST and the Bad Plus perform at the Michigan Theater!)

It’s time for American audiences to get acquainted with Europe’s answer to the future of jazz. See E.S.T. live before they return home!

 E.S.T. will be on stage at the Dakota in Minneapolis, November 10-11 (two sets each night), information and tickets at www.dakotacooks.com; at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor with the Bad Plus, November 13, information and tickets at http://michtheater.org; at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH, November 14, information and tickets at www.wexarts.org